Refrigerators are home appliances for storing foods in a low-temperature state. Such a refrigerator may have a refrigerating compartment for storing foods in a refrigerated state and/or a freezing compartment for storing foods in a frozen state. Also, a dispenser may be mounted in a front surface of a door of a refrigerator to dispense drinking water through the dispenser without opening the door of the refrigerator.
Also, an ice maker for making and storing ice may be provided in the door or a storage space of the refrigerator. The refrigerator may be configured to dispense ice through the dispenser.
Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2011-0085099 discloses a refrigerator in which water supplied from the outside is supplied into a water tank provided in the refrigerator via a filter, and the water stored in the water tank is cooled by cool air within the refrigerator and then supplied into a dispenser and an ice maker to dispense the drinking water or supply the water for making ice.
In this type of refrigerator, the cooled water is supplied to the ice maker or the dispenser, regardless of a user's selection. Also, when a large amount of water is dispensed at once through the dispenser, it may be difficult to dispense the cooled water through the dispenser or reduce cooling performance.